A rollicking true story of Bibles and bank robberies in Southern California, from a talented and highly praised gonzo journalist.NAMED A BEST TRUE CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWChas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that grew out of Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma’...

A finalist for the PEN Center USA Award for NonfictionWelcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell, is surfer and former war reporter Chas Smith’s wild and unflinching look at the high-stakes world of surfing on Oahu’s North Shore—a riveting, often humorous, account of beauty, greed, danger, and crime.For two months every winter, when Pacific storms make landfall, swarms of mainlanders, Brazilians, Australians, and Europeans flock to Oahu’s paradisiacal North Shore in pursuit of som...

A rollicking true story of Bibles and bank robberies in Southern California, from a talented and highly praised gonzo journalist.Chas Smith grew up deeply enmeshed in the evangelical Christian world that grew out of Southern California in the late 1960s. His family included famous missionaries and megachurch pastors, but his cousin Daniel Courson was Grandma’s favorite. Smith looked up to Cousin Danny. He was handsome, adventurous, and smart, earned a degree from B...

A gonzo ride through war-torn Yemen as only Chas Smith, the award-winning author of Welcome to Paradise, Now Go to Hell and Cocaine + Surfing: A Sordid History of Surfing's Greatest Love Affair, could provide. Follow Smith and his misfit band of merrymakers as they search for the true origins of Al Qaeda and endeavor to ride the unsurfed waves of Yemen all while exploring the slim opportunities for fun in the margins of our global war on terror and at any cost—even if it ...

True surfers understand that surfing is not a sport, a hobby or even a lifestyle. Instead, it is a path, a constantly evolving journey that directs where you go, how you live, and who you are.In 2006, Liz Clark decided to follow the path that surfing, sailing and love of the ocean had presented to her. Embarking on an adventure that most only dream of taking, she set sail from Santa Barbara, solo, headed to the South Pacific. Nine years later she is still following her path in sear...

Written by one of the most revered surfers of his generation, Gerry Lopez's Surf Is Where You Find It is a collection of stories about a lifetime of surfing. But more than that, it is a collection of stories about the lessons learned from surfing. It presents 38 stories about those who have been influential in the sport — surfing anytime, anywhere, and in any way. Lopez, an innovator in stand-up-paddle (one of the fastest growing water sports in the world), now shares his stories ...

Bali: Heaven and Hell is a lively cultural and social history of Australia’s favourite holiday island. Detailing the island’s tumultous and often violent past, its mythology, religion and politics, and the last 50 years of western colonization and modern development. It is a place that both appeals and repels. Together with substantial knowledge and research of the island’s early history, Phil Jarratt has plenty of personal first hand experience from the early 70s Bali and...

Country folk have their own way of doing things and their own sense of humour too. They are naturally wary of men in suits and university types, and such people have to be put to the test before they can be accepted. They are not too keen on new-fangled ways of doing things either; a meal of mountain oysters is one thing, but washed down with a glass of bull’s semen? What’s the world coming to? 'Once Upon A Cowpat' is a hugely enjoyable collection of rural yarns, with subjects ranging from...

In 1979, Brett Douglas was a twenty-eight-year-old US Marine Corps veteran working as a commercial tuna fisherman in California. That year, a young man named Bruce Perlowin came looking for professional seamen and found a few, including the author. The fishermen he recruited became a crew that played an integral part in smuggling more than 250 tons of marijuana that FBI agents credited to the Perlowin Conspiracy.The Golden Gate Smuggling Company provides a true, behind-the...

'Packed with war stories from a golden age of rock, and insights into the stars that made that music' CLASSIC ROCK MAGAZINE'On reading Getcha Rocks Off you realise just how drastically things have changed in the rock industry but books like this perfectly evoke what they were like. Good times...' RECORD COLLECTORHanging out with rock stars, trying to steal their chicks, or throwing up over their guitars after launching into the hospitality ...

When NRL also-rans Canterbury and North Queensland met in August 2010, there appeared to be little at stake. Appearances can be deceptive. In the lead-up to the game, more than 30,000 was bet on North Queensland to open the scoring with a penalty goal. This was a plunge without peer; both brazen and bizarre. Bookmakers were so spooked they suspended markets before kick-off. But the potential damage had been done. The bagmen watched the opening minute in a sickened trance, as North Queensla...

Hell in Barbados is the powerful true story of a drug-addicted smuggler who found his salvation in the unlikeliest of places. Told with disarming honesty, the book propels the reader into the mind of an addict and shows us the depths of degradation one man sunk to before finding the inner strength to save himself.Terry Donaldson met with success early in life but his struggle with addiction soon became an all-out war. His Jekyll and Hyde lifestyle – TV presenter by day, whilst he s...